We're Ready!

We are ready for the Tour of Homes.... we think at least! :-)  The Nativity is set up, the tree is trimmed, the stockings hung, lights are up and the biggest accomplishment to me is the house is clean!  Stephen commented last night that he thinks this may be the cleanest our house has ever been.... quite possibly since we have been unpacking and putting away things for almost 2 months.

We live in the downstairs apartment - the door with the wreath.

We THANK YOU for your prayers!  We feel blessed to have so many friends and family praying for us!  This week has not gone without it's challenges, frustrations and stresses but with the exception of Monday, we have enjoyed our time preparing for this weekend!  One of my highlights was that we were able in the midst of the craziness to start our daily advent readings and activities which has produced some great dialogue with Caileigh!  I feel like this is the first year she is "really getting it."  At mealtime and nights she has wanted to pray and the prayers she prays are amazing - she so gets it!  I have goosebumps as I listen to an honest prayer thanking God for our house, for a bed to sleep in, for her sister, for her friends and other family members, for Jesus who was born in a "stable" and died for sins, how He rose and conquered the Braves (we're still working on that one), for the two homeless men who have crossed our paths this week that as a family we have been burdened to pray for. She prays that they would "know Jesus," that they would be able to find a bed to sleep in that night, that they would have food.  On Thursday one of the men were raking the leaves in front of our house for our landlord - Caileigh said, "Mom, there's the man, I'm sorry I don't remember his name, that we prayed would be able to find a job so he would be able to pay for a place to sleep and look he's working for Mrs. Deb!  Jesus answered our prayer Mommy! Can I go ask him his name again?"

Caileigh and Emma - Front door

Please do continue to pray for tonight and tomorrow.  Last night during the walk thru, we were told they had already sold 100 tickets.  People can buy tickets at the start of the tour and they will be selling them at the Christmas Market tomorrow morning.  They say they would not be surprised if they sell 100 more!  Please continue to pray that we would be able to have gospel conversations with neighbors and those who might come to our homes. Pray that Christ would be glorified in our home! Pray that Emma in particular will be able to "hang in there" since she will be up later than normal - Caileigh will be the life of the party I am sure! :-) Thank you for praying for us!

Well, we are off to enjoy some time as a family and in hopes of keeping the house clean! :-)

Ready to give tours!

Christmas is Coming!

We are still alive and I am working on getting pictures off the camera and onto the computer to prove it!  I figure you would rather see a picture worth a thousand words than read the thousand plus words it would take to write everything down that we have been up to in the past 2 months! So stay tuned... they are coming!


In the meantime would you please join us in prayer for this week and weekend. We are participating in the Candlelight Tour of Homes in Olde Town. Our home is one of eight homes in Historic Olde Town that is participating in the Candlelight Tour of Homes.  This year the tour is featuring the 300 block of Broad Street and three newly renovated organizations - Christ Community Health Services, Heritage Academy and the Vine Inn. The tour is open to the public this Friday, December 2nd 6:00-9:00pm and Saturday, December 3rd 6:00-9:00pm.  


This is very overwhelming to us.  As I write our house is a wreck, bags are scattered down the hall, waiting to be unpacked, there is a trail of toys throughout the house where two cute little girls have tossed them aside to help their frazzled momma unpack. We went this morning to get our Christmas tree - yay!  However, it's been a frustrating ordeal- the trunk is too short to fit down into our tree stand and we don't have a saw to trim more branches.  It will all work out but I can certainly see the spiritual battle we are in right now.  Moment by moment I am struggling to not just decorate and prepare our house for Christmas in a mad rush to just get it done but rather keep my eyes on Christ and the meaning of what we are looking forwards too - celebrating His birth. I try to remember "why we are participating in this?" when the overwhelming feelings begin to take control but I am failing miserably.  This is why I ask for prayer.

I would like to share what our next door neighbors, Steve and Diane Hubbard wrote recently in an email to our parish in regards to their participation in the Tour of Homes as well.  It echos our thoughts and feelings on participating in the tour:

·  "By participating in the Tour of Homes we have another opportunity to interact with folks in our neighborhood who are not part of our church family."

·" It gives us a tangible and visible way to say that we buy into rebuilding Olde Town and that we care about our community."

·  "It is one small way to say to those who do not live here, but might come on the tour, that we believe that God can redeem the city and that it is worth doing so."

· " It is a visible means of saying that Olde Town isn’t just a drug infested, dieing community.  It is a place of hope, and we want to invite others to join us in the rebuilding.  Maybe someone who comes on the tour might catch that vision."

·  "It just might take some fear out of “coming downtown” for some folks."

· "It just might be used as a point of dialogue for the gospel with our neighbors." 

Our prayer is that by participating in the Tour of Homes we would have the opportunity to hold up Christ and what He is doing in Olde Town. So will you please join us in prayer?  We will be sure to let you know how it goes and post a couple pictures!

Family Update

I apologize for not getting back on here sooner and posting pictures.  Life around here has been SUPER busy and not to mention we have a slightly (ok- a VERY) clingy and teething baby who is currently trying to cut her 10th, 11th and 12th teeth and is content to just be held!  Literally every time I sit down to write "someone" wakes up! Even now as I write she is awake, but thankfully happy and content to play, for now... :-)

Emma laid her head down on Caileigh's lap while watching Elmo's World - she must not feel good! :-(

We have had a lot of exciting things happen around here as of late!

First - Two Thursdays ago, we had 23% left to go on support raising.  After New Town Bible Study, the same Thursday, Stephen received a phone call and we were at 100%!!! God is SO GOOD!!!  This couple we had met our second week in Augusta had been praying about supporting us.  They knew they wanted to support us a significant amount.  They had reached a decision and called Stephen.  The husband asked Stephen how much we had left, when Stephen told him - he replied that that was the amount they had decided on!  God knows our needs and certainly provides even more than we could have ever imagined!  For the next few days it seemed so surreal to us!  Friday, we enjoyed a nice date to celebrate!  Many thanks to Uncle John and Aunt Laura for babysitting the girls so we could enjoy a night out!  Stephen has jumped right in this past week and this week with many, many meetings in hopes of getting tutoring started Oct 3rd!  We are very excited!  Please pray that God would give him wisdom and direction as he makes plans.  THANK YOU for your prayers regarding our support!

Trying ethnic food at a recent Art Festival

Sharing a treat :-)

Second - Caileigh is a swimmer now!  She finally figured out how to kick her legs and paddle her arms at the same time to stay afloat and to move from point A to point B.  It took her two days of trying and then she was off paddling around the pool at the Kroc center - ALL BY HERSELF without floaties!!! We do have to keep our eye on her though because she thinks she is a pro now!  When one of her older buddies showed up to swim Caileigh proudly took off with her to the deep end to show off her newly acquired skill.  She actually did fine - but we had to explain that swimming by herself was something she could only do with Mommy or Daddy by her side. We have been very proud of Caileigh and her boldness in making friends.  She has bravely gone to new nurseries for church and bible study, a new story time and New Town and has enjoyed herself at all and made many new friends.  She misses her friends in Carrollton and talks of them often but we are so thankful to see her reaching out and being a friend and therefore making friends!  THANK YOU for praying for our transition to Augusta and for new friends!  We are seeing some sweet friendships for all develop!

Aunt Katie and Caileigh swimming at the Kroc Center over Labor Day weekend.

Third - Emma is a walker!  Emma has finally decided that she can actually walk from A to B without holding onto something or someone!  She still prefers crawling as it is much faster at this point.  She's pretty cute walking around the house.  We are still working on getting her used to wearing shoes.  She will absolutely refuse to walk when wearing shoes - no matter what kind!  It is hard to believe that in less than a week Emma will be ONE!  She has grown so fast it seems!  Everyday she adds to her vocabulary.  Some include: Dada, Mama, Hey, Uh-oh, ank u (thank you), ball, bae-bee (baby), ba-ba ba-ba (Brown Bear, Brown Bear - her favorite book), Melmo (Elmo), moe (more), car, K (Caileigh), uck (Duck), quack, m-ow (meow), liggle liggle (tickle tickle) and many hand gestures.  We went last Monday to the ENT.  Emma's hearing seemed to be "okay" despite having quite a bit of fluid in both ears.  They also were pretty red.  The doctor put her on antibiotics in hopes of clearing them up.  He feels like it would be in her best interest to get tubes.  We agree. We will go to University Hospital bright and early tomorrow morning(Thursday, Sept 22) for her surgery.  I really liked the doctor and his staff!  Emma felt very comfortable there and wanted the doctor to hold her, she sat in his lap and "watched" him talk to me and Caileigh about Emma and the procedure.  To be honest Emma knows very few strangers.  She loves to tell everyone she sees "Hey!" with a huge smile and will climb into any open lap.  THANK YOU for praying for Emma and her appointment.  Please keep her and us in your prayers as she has surgery tomorrow

Sweet Emma walking outside with her "Baebee"

Fourth - Tonight we are having a "Painting and Pizza Party" for our new home.  We will move in to the house Sat, Oct 1st.  We are very thankful and overwhelmed by God's provision for our family and for all the new friends who are so willing to help us out!

Two Wednesdays ago, was the first Ladies' Bible Study of the year.  We are reading the book: Gospel in Life by Tim Keller.  I am really excited to read this book!  At Bible Study last week I sat next to a lady who turned out to be the aunt of my childhood best friend, Hannah (from Kenya days) - this came out during an ice breaker.  Hannah's grandmother was also at the Ladies' Bible Study and I got to meet her and hear a bit of what Hannah is up to these days.  I am constantly amazed at how small our world is and how BIG our God is!

With Thanksgiving!

It's been a busy couple of weeks with a lot to be thankful for!

We have meet twice for the New Town Bible Study, which is on Thursday nights.  We have all four enjoyed getting to know the kids and other volunteers.  Some of our favorites:  Stephen enjoys shooting hoops with the guys and getting to know his 5th grade guys small group!  He also enjoyed leading the big group in worship this past Thursday. Caileigh loves playing with the other preschoolers on the playground.  They love to swing, race down slides, sing a newly learned Swahili song about a balloon, listen to stories read from the Jesus Storybook Bible and coloring.  She also has learned how to eat chicken from the bone... that was funny to watch her figure that one out while the rest of her group dug right in.  :-)  Emma loves just being around people and in particular other kids!  Her favorites are trying to climb up the slides, holding the preteen/teenage girls hands and walking wherever they will let her, clapping along to the songs, trying to eat the crayons before the other kids grab them from her and of course the FOOD! :-)  I personally love watching my little family build relationships with new friends!  The girls have adjusted so well - I feel like they have hardly skipped a beat!  Caileigh asks every day if we are going to New Town tonight?  Stephen is a whole different person come Thursdays - I don't think we can walk to New Town fast enough for him, come Thursday night! :-)  I LOVE being able to love on the little kids that come.  We have had 10-12 two year olds thru 1st graders in the group I help out with.  Since Emma gets walked around I have been able to give lots of pushes on the swings to some very adorable two year olds!

We have enjoyed getting to know families from church with young children who also live downtown.  The girls and I like going to story time at the downtown library.  This morning we walked to the library with a neighbor and her three children.  Another mom and her daughter met us there (they just recently moved to Augusta for dental school).  We all went back to our friends' house for lunch and let the kids play before nap. So much fun!  I was able to go to a recent Ladies' Dessert Fellowship for the ladies who live in our downtown parrish.  It was nice to get to know some more ladies who live close by.  Stephen also recently went to a Guys night out with some of the husbands from the same group.  Seems like they also had a good time! :-)  We are thanking God for providing us friends during a transition period that can tend to be very lonely and hard!

We found a rental house that we LOVE- what an answer to prayer!  We are so excited about it!  It has 2 very large bedrooms, which will be perfect for us. Our landlord and his wife live upstairs and have a separate entrance.  There is no yard but room to make a nice playroom! It is literally right across the street from John and Laura's apartment complex.  One of our new doctors and her husband, who is also a new doctor in town, live three doors down.  They moved to Augusta the same week we did.  They are about our age, so we will enjoy getting to know them better.  There is some work needing to be done: finding a fridge and stove and some painting before we can move in.  We will move in by October 1st and are excited to get settled in our own place!  We are so thankful for the time we have been able to live in the mission house but are ready to get all our belongings out of storage and set up our own home.

Through a generous gift we were able to go ahead and join the Salvation Army's Kroc Center that has recently opened here in town.  As a family we have enjoyed going almost everyday!  Many of our new friends from church have also joined so it has been a great time to get to know some of them better too!  The girls love playing in the nursery while Stephen works out and I run.  Most days we will pick the girls up and enjoy some time swimming and playing in the amazing aquatics center!  One evening the girls and I met some friends there to swim and had so much fun!  Caileigh has learned to swim although not far yet. :-)  Emma loves to splash around!  A family favorite is the lazy river. Stephen and I are working on our goal of running a 10K in December thru a really cool Swamp/wetlands park we recently found... we shall see! :-)  Either way, we are thankful for this opportunity and God's provision!

We enjoyed a great Labor Day weekend!  Aunt Katie (my baby sister who just started her freshman year of college) came up from Georgia Southern on Friday - Monday.  We enjoyed having her here and hearing about college life!  She even got to experience the Kroc Center!  Sunday, we all went to Columbia to Jason (Stephen's brother) and his wife, Lori's house to celebrate their son's baptism and First Birthday.  It was so much fun to be close enough to celebrate with them! It's hard to believe John Carter and Emma are basically toddlers!  This year flew by!

We have a couple more prayer requests and answers to prayer:  Emma has an appointment Sept 12th with an ENT.  Praying we can figure out the next step in helping prevent her from having so many ear infections!  Support is coming in!  It seems slow some days, but it is coming!  We have 25% more to go!  The goal is to have it in by October 1st so we can start After-school tutoring!  Stephen is keeping busy meeting and calling new contacts everyday!  Please continue to pray with us that it will all come in soon! Pray for Stephen tonight as he leads worship at a young adults outreach meeting.

I have pictures, but Emma is now awake and so I will have to put them up later...  Hope everyone had a good Labor Day holiday and long weekend!

NOW... WAIT...

These are two words that sum up life around here as of late.  Caileigh, wants everything NOW!  "Mommy, I need this, Mommy, I want that, Mommy, NOW NOW NOW!!!  Emma, can't say now, she can barely say MaMa, but her cries and whines translate just the same.  Daddy and Mommy say, "Wait, please (most of the time) be patient, not now, I'm trying to hurry, etc."  Our response is not typically taken very well, therefore most episodes end up in time out thinking about our attitude etc.

A recent episode (this morning) had me thinking about how I am just like my girls - or maybe they are just like their mama...?  We want everything NOW, but are being told to WAIT, to be patient.  I want Emma's medical records from Carrollton NOW, so she can see an ENT, so we can fix her ears NOW and stop having ear infections NOW.  I want people to call back NOW, so we can decide to move to a particular home.  I want our support to be in NOW, so Stephen can start working, so our life can have some "routine," so we can have a reliable budget, so I can make plans NOW... You get the picture - I'm whinny.

After taking my "time-out,"  I see how I am unable to WAIT on God, to trust Him wholeheartedly.  I spent some time in the Word as I was convicted of my whinny, impatient heart attitude.  I also did a word study on the word; WAIT - hope, expect, look eagerly, trust, wait expectantly, wait in hope, to be dumb, grow silent, be still, rest... The last three definitions are hard for me to swallow; grow silent, be still, rest... That goes against every sinful nature of my being.  I like to keep busy, I like to do things, go places etc.  I don't want to rest.  I don't want to have to wait on others.  I want to control the situation.

Please pray that we would WAIT on the Lord, trusting in His timing and His goodness, and in the meantime be content with God's provision and timing.

God DOES Answer Prayer!

Tuesday evening we had a Dessert and Coffee Fellowship at John and Laura's (my sister) house.  They invited several friends and we were able to get to know them and share what God has called us to with Hope for Augusta.  It was a great time of fellowship and encouraging!

Stephen and I went to a meeting last night (Thursday) for all the New Town staff/volunteers.  New Town is the Bible Study that all are welcome to (they have ages 2 - 18)!  Kids come to play, sing, eat, hear the Word of God, build relationships with their group leaders and others and hopefully get plugged into After-school tutoring, mentorship programs etc.  This year they will be learning the Westminister Shorter Catechism!  We are excited about this as we can go and minister as a a whole family- something we have certainly been praying for!  I (Amy) and 3 other college-graduate girls will be leading the group of children 1st grade and under.  Caileigh and Emma will be a part of this group too.  Stephen will be with the 5th grade guys.  The first meeting with kids will be this coming Thursday at 6 pm!  Please pray for the New Town staff and volunteers and for the neighborhood kids who will be attending!  

We are still raising support.  Some days it seems very slow and can be very frustrating and discouraging.  We trust that this is part of the process of building a team of people who will earnestly pray for us and will support us financially so we can begin working with Hope For Augusta.  Days like Tuesday and Thursday of this week and last Friday are the days we see and understand how God has designed and uses the body of Christ!  These days help to get us through the hard times of this journey.

Last Friday, we feared Caileigh had strep; fever, red/sore throat with white bumps.  Thankfully it appears to have just been a virus.  We had not found a doctor at that point.  We contacted some neighbors and friends here with young children.  They recommended Christ Community Clinic which provides health services to the insured and uninsured alike in this community.  The problem is they are extremely busy and hard to get in to as there is such a need down here so our friends called the doctor personally and we were able to get in.  We enjoyed meeting and talking with Dr. Campbell.  He shared his vision for the community and was so excited to hear how we are a part of Hope for Augusta.  In conversation, he shared how he had prayed with a man named Brad over 8 years ago for a ministry like Hope for Augusta that would include a clinic and how exciting it was to see prayers being answered!  Turns out, Brad was my youth pastor when my family and I lived in Orlando, FL!  Brad had a significant impact on my life during a time when I was struggling to adjust to a new culture, church, friends, school and most importantly spiritually.  Being a part of his youth group grew me in my walk with Christ and I also developed some deep friendships with godly youth my age in the group, whom many of which I still remain in contact with!

Brad and his family are now back in Orlando.  I contacted him, sharing how God had brought Stephen and I to Augusta and in particular to Hope for Augusta.  Tuesday, I heard back from him.  In his message he wrote, "Sometimes God has a plan that includes us doing something and sometimes He just uses us to plant and brings along others to nurture and grow." How true that is!  Being a part of this vision that Brad and others had over 8 years ago is exciting, but being a part of an intricately woven plan that God has is even more exciting!  Why do we even begin to doubt that God will provide?  HE TRULY DOES ANSWER PRAYER!

Please do keep us in prayer as we seek to find a more permanent housing situation.  We feel extremely blessed to be here in the Mission House but long to be settled in our own home with our own furniture.  We have been continually reminded this summer that this(Carrollton/Augusta) is not our home, we eagarly await our home in heaven!  Laura Story's song, "Blessings" has helped to put this into perspective!  Please also pray that our support would continue to come in.  It is hard to be patient and with that I ask that you would pray for us to be patient!  That we would trust in his timing!

Enjoying our new town

We have been getting acquainted with our new town and all it has to offer.  Most evenings after dinner we have enjoyed walking along the Savannah River.  The Riverwalk is about 3 blocks from where we live. There is a playground that the girls enjoy as well.

Girls on the Riverwalk - Behind them is the Savannah River and South Carolina.

The girls and I enjoyed going to the Farmer's Market Saturday morning with Aunt Laura.  The Market was located in front of the Riverwalk.  Stephen went over to John and Laura's and played some football and golf on the Playstation. Us girls made lunch at our place and then the guys joined us for food. :-)  We are enjoying being close to John and Laura!

Sunday, John and Laura were two of Caileigh's Sunday School teachers - she loved that!  Stephen and I went to the Young Married Sunday School class and met a lot of other couples.  We will enjoy getting to know other young couples in our new church!  The nursery workers seem to enjoy Emma despite their many comments both at the morning and evening services of how active, yet happy she is. She has become quite the climber!  We went to the mall Saturday to check it out, walk around and let the girls play on the the playground there.  Caileigh was timid about climbing on the climbing structures wanting us to help her - while Emma quickly scaled them with no fear and no assistance!  The girls really do enjoy playing together!  What one does, the other has to too!

Monday and Wednesday, Stephen spent most of the day planning for Hope for Augusta with his boss, Rick and co-worker, Bryn.  They are really excited about the plans for the year!  We are praying that support will quickly come in so Stephen, Rick and Bryn can really start putting these plans into action!

Tuesday, Caileigh and I went to the Pre-school Story Time at the Downtown Library.  Emma stayed home and napped while Stephen worked on support and making new contacts.  Caileigh was shy but seemed to enjoy it.  We miss Ms. Teresa, our beloved Story time lady in Carrollton!  Caileigh and one other little boy were the only two preschoolers.  A local private school brought their Kindergarten and First graders to the Story time. I think that was a bit overwhelming to Caileigh.  I didn't like it as much as their Baby Story Time on Wednesdays, but we will keep trying.  In September, First Pres is starting a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group the 1st and 3rd Tuesday so I think we will try that as well.  They have a curriculum for the children that I think Caileigh and Emma will enjoy.

Tuesday evening, we went over to John and Laura's for a dessert and coffee fellowship and for a time of sharing our role with Hope for Augusta with some of their friends.  We enjoyed meeting new friends!  The girls definitely stole the show and warmed up to everyone very quickly as they were climbing in and out of laps in no time!  We enjoyed the yummy desserts too!  Caileigh played hostess with Aunt Laura - it was quite cute and she did really well with it too despite Uncle John's crazy orders! :-)

When Emma naps, Caileigh and I work really hard to get chores done and then work on "school" stuff.  This week Caileigh has learned how to cut paper with scissors, glue the pieces onto paper and to write an "A." She loves it and we are very proud of her!

Our transition from Carrollton to Augusta...

We spent the last couple weeks in Carrollton packing up all are belongings with the help of many friends and family.

Some sweet friends and great CYI volunteers with Emma

 We enjoyed sweet times of fellowship with many dear friends as we said good-bye.

The girls with Bethany

Carrollton Water Park with Charlotte

4th of July Celebration with the Hess'

Playing with Kaleb

Poolside picnic with Colt

Silly faces with Charlotte

Pool party with Hailey & Hannah

Playing with Jake 

On Saturday, July 30th we loaded up a moving truck and a couple other vehicles with all our belongings and we didn't forget these two cuties... :-)

Sunday, July 31st, Stephen led worship one last time at KCP.  We told our dear brothers and sisters good-bye and started our journey to Augusta.  We made it safely and unloaded all our belongings into a warehouse for storage.  There was some miscommunication so we stayed the first night with our new boss, Rick and his family.

Monday, August 1st, we got the key to the Missionary House and got settled.  We are in the downstairs unit. It is fully furnished and beautiful! We feel very blessed to be able to stay here while we transition.

Missionary House (our entrance)

The girls have been troopers! They miss their friends and play dates. As parents we have prayed for them to quickly adjust and to make some dear friends!  Our first Sunday at our new church, Caileigh walked right into her new Sunday School class with excitement!  We were so proud of her!  After church we asked her how it went - she said, "We learned about Daniel and the lions and I made some new friends, but I don't remember their names."  She then asked us what our new friends' names were... :-)  Emma apparently was the nursery daredevil... no new news here! :-)  She did recently try to repaint her pack n play with the contents of her diaper.  She keeps us on our toes and laughing!  Her latest phase is pulling up to standing and then letting go and standing without support!  Walking here we come!

This week the girls and I have tried story time twice!  Yesterday, we went to the one for Pre-schoolers - we were the only ones who showed up - so they didn't do it, maybe next week.  We did, however, come home with a bag full of books!  Today we went to the Baby Story time.  It was fun!  Emma loved all the cool toys and books that she got to explore and clapped along to all the songs and rhymes.  Caileigh enjoyed the books.

Please pray as we continue to raise support.  Pray that it would come in quickly - Stephen's about to go stir-crazy I think!  He works hard every day to make contacts and then has to trust that he will get responses.

The Journey to Augusta

Within the past six years I have become director of Carrollton Youth Impact, married a wonderful woman, become the song director for King’s Chapel, and have had two beautiful girls! It has been a great (and crazy) six years and I have grown, been challenged, and learned so much! The Lord is bringing about a new and wonderful change once again…

 About five years ago, the current pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Augusta (PCA) challenged members of the church to move into the neighborhoods surrounding the church (referred to as Old Town), which is devastated with poverty, drugs, and violence. Since that time, several families from First Pres. have moved into the area, built relationships with the neighbors, started a Bible study, discipleship groups, and tutoring for the children and youth in the area.

Through Amy’s sister, Laura, who lives in Augusta, I have had the privilege to meet some of the men involved in leading these ministries and to see the ministry first hand over the past couple of years. First Pres. is now in a position to solidify and organize all of their after school programs under an 501(c)3 non-profit organization called City Hope Alliance. City Hope Alliance is an inter-denominational community development organization committed to serving the needs of the city with Christ-centered resources. 

This is where I come in: First Presbyterian has offered me the position of Director of After-School Programs for Hope for Augusta. Hope for Augusta is a ministry of City Hope Alliance. My responsibilities will include creating, maintaining, and enhancing after-school programs such as Bible studies, tutoring, mentoring, job skills, etc. We will also be moving directly into one of the lower-income neighborhoods in Old Town, which will allow us to minister to our neighbors as a family. I also will be able to continue my seminary education with RTS Charlotte.

This is a support raising position. Our goal is to move to Augusta by August (before the new school year begins) if not sooner. In order to move to Augusta by this time we need to raise an additional $975/month to our current support.

First of all, I want to thank you all for your many, many prayers and financial support throughout the past six years. Amy and I are humbled and grateful to look back on how the Lord has provided for us through His people. We do ask that you would prayerfully consider continuing on or joining our support team in this great new opportunity in Augusta.

Please pray for our family as we raise more support and make this bittersweet transition from Carrollton to Augusta. If you have any questions whatsoever, please do not hesitate to call me. I would be glad to grab a cup of coffee and discuss this more with you all.             

We will keep you updated with details, etc. concerning our journey. 

WHAT ABOUT CYI?

I will stay on as director of CYI through at least June of this year. During this time we will continue programs, but will also be working and praying through various options for the youth of CYI in the future. As of now, I am working hard to get the youth plugged into a church where they can be loved, become a part of a church family and continue to hear the Gospel preached. Please pray with me as we make decisions concerning CYI and that these youth could be plugged into a church family soon.